FIFA has excluded Jean-Jacques Ndala, who officiated the 2025 AFCON final, from its list of match officials for the 2026 World Cup, announcing selected referees from across Africa.
World football governing body, FIFA, unveiled a list of seven centre referees, 10 assistant referees and two Video Assistant Referees (VAR) for the tournament.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, will run from June 11 to July 19.
Notable omissions
Mr Ndala’s omission follows controversy surrounding the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final in Morocco, where he was the centre referee.
The match was marred by chaos after Senegal players protested officiating decisions and briefly walked off the pitch. Although Senegal initially won 1-0, Morocco was later declared winner by the Confederation of African Football appeals committee.
Other referees left out include Issa Sy and Boubou Traoré.
Selected referees
FIFA named seven centre referees from Africa, including Mustapha Ghorbal, widely regarded as the most experienced among them.
Mr Ghorbal has previously officiated at multiple AFCON tournaments, including the 2018 and 2022 editions.
Others on the list are Omar Artan, Dahane Beida, Amin Mohamed, Abongile Tom, Jalal Jayeed and Pierre Atcho.
Mr Artan is set to make his FIFA World Cup debut, marking a milestone for Somali football.
Assistant referees and VAR
The assistant referees selected include officials from Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Gabon, Cameroon, South Africa and Angola, reflecting broad continental representation.
For VAR duties, FIFA selected Ashour Mahmoud and Hamza El Fariq.
Egypt leads Africa’s representation with four officials, followed by Morocco, Algeria and Gabon with three each. South Africa has two, while Cameroon, Angola, Mauritania and Somalia each have one.
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